(a) Field of the invention:
The present invention relates to a socket used for the testing of integrated circuits (hereinafter to be referred to as IC) with respect to their electric testing or functional measurement.
(b) Description of the prior art:
Production of ICs has been on a substantial increase of late, and accordingly it has become a critcal problem how quickly ICs can be tested.
As the prior art apparatus for testing and measuring ICs, there has been utilized an IC-tester socket.
Among those prior art IC-tester sockets, an IC-tester socket of the type which is used for the testing of, for example, a flat type IC having IC package terminals designed so as to be connected to external circuits at lateral sides of the IC package is constructed with a socket body housing therein contact pins which are to be connected to said lead terminals, and with a cover member for maintaining the connection between said lead terminals and contact pins by being depressed by the IC package mounted onto the socket body from thereabove.
However, the IC-tester socket of the prior art having the above-mentioned construction requires the cover member and also a mechanism for locking this cover member (see Japanese Utility Model Preliminary Publication No. Sho 60-81654).
For this reason, the prior art socket as a whole has tended to be large in size relative to the size of the IC package which is to be tested. In case, for example, an IC-tester socket is placed in a constant temperature vessel for the purpose of performing a test, it has been unable to place a number of IC-tester sockets into the vessel, so that there has been the drawback that a number of ICs can not be tested at a time.
Also, in case an IC package is to be attached to and removed from a socket body according to the prior art, the operator is required to make opening and closing operations of the cover member as well as the locking and unlocking operations of the locking mechanism for each mounting and removing of the IC package onto and from the socket. Furthermore, in the manufacture of the socket per se also, the operations such as the attachment of the cover-member locking mechanism onto the socket body are complicated. In addition, the prior art arrangement is such that contact pins are designed to be brought into contact with the lower end face of the lead terminals at a single site thereof, and thus there has been an additional drawback that there could occur instances wherein electric connection is not realized in a stable fashion.